


The Warmth in my Veins

by 8ucky8arnes



Category: Elite (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29891793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8ucky8arnes/pseuds/8ucky8arnes
Summary: The rest of the day bled together, broken up only by the instances Samuel crossed her path and Carla wondered when his presence had become something so memorable. Something that she looked forward to despite how they’d ended...
Relationships: Carla Rosón Caleruega/Samuel García Domínguez
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	The Warmth in my Veins

**Author's Note:**

> _“You are the warmth  
>  in my veins, you are  
> every breath I take  
> you are the chaos  
> in my mind.  
> Now when I look at me,  
> you are all I see.” _\- N.R. Hart 
> 
> Chapter Note: This has been sitting finished on my computer for way too long and I’ve always been a bit nervous to post it as it’s my first fic for this fandom. This couple surprised me in the show and I decided that I wanted to write a different (i.e., happier) ending for these two. It takes place sometime after Season 2. Hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you all think!

Since the moment Polo had stepped back onto the grounds of Las Encinas, Carla felt like she was constantly looking over her shoulder. Constantly on edge. Like there was a sword hanging over her head wherever she went.

Any friendships she’d had were destroyed the second she’d confessed.

If they didn’t hate her, they refused to speak to her at all.

Lu, Ander, Guzman, Polo…

Her thoughts drifted off when she felt a familiar gaze burning into the side of her head, her chest  tightening as she continued t o draw circles with her compass, t he pencil glided smoothly over the paper with steady hands.

_ Samuel… _

Her hand paused as he  responded to the teacher’s question .

Her ice queen exterior wouldn’t work on him like it had on everyone else…really,  _ no _ tool in her arsenal had ever worked on him. Intimidation. Bribery. Sex. All had failed and, in the  end, she’d been the one who’d lost.

_ “You played me and you won.” _

_ “I lost you.” _

_ “You never had me.” _

Their parting words in the police station had shocked her, but  the look in those dark eyes at her response almost had her wanting to take them all back. To  go back to his shitty pasta and sweet words , to nights spent in his arms and in his bed…

But she hadn’t. She’d left him.

And now she couldn’t even look at him.

_ Fucking pathetic. _

She crumpled up the paper on her desk right as the  dismissal bell rang, stuffing it into her bag as she stood and shoved past anyone in her way.  No one else would  look at her yet she could still feel his fucking  _ stare _ , boring into her back as she turned the corner, not stopping until she reached the restroom and slammed the stall door behind her.

Carla let out a long shaky breath, taking the moment to fall apart. To drop all her walls and masks and allow herself an outlet for her guilt and her grief and her anger. The last  thing  she wanted was to allow  a shred of  weakness to be seen by anyone.

Especially  _ him _ .

Adjusting her bag, she stepped out of the stall and up to the mirror, checking her makeup and combing fingers through her hair, making sure nothing was out of place before she smoothed out her features and walked back out into the hallway. 

The rest of the day bled together, broken up only by the instances Samuel crossed her path and Carla wondered when his presence had become something so memorable. Something that she looked forward to despite how they’d ended...

A hand curled around her wrist, bringing her to a halt.

“ Can I talk to you , Carla?”

_ Polo. _

She turned  around, looking down at the fingers digging into her forearm and back up at him with a raised brow and pursed lips . Carla didn’t bother trying to pull away,  not in the mood to cause any more of a scene , “ Can you let me go ?”

H is  eyes narrowed , his hand tightening, “ So you can avoid me?”

Carla sighed,  even as his fingers left marks,  “After confessing to the detective, I thought it best.”

Polo almost looked amused , “A lot of good that did you.”

She finally tugged at her arm, “Let. Me.  _ Go _ .”

He  cocked his head to the side, “Or what? You’ ll send your lapdog after me?”

She just barely reigned  the urge to slap him,  Carla baring  her teeth in a sharp smile as she leaned in ,  her  hand snaking down his chest, his stomach ,  fingers running back and forth over the buckle of his belt . “It takes one to know one.”

He pulled away from her ,  sneering .

She kept smiling even as she turned to walk  to the waiting car ,  forc ing  herself to act as calm as possible and it might’ve worked  if she hadn’t seen Samuel watching the whole interaction with a clenched jaw and balled fists. 

She stopped in her tracks,  smil e falling as she tried to say something… _ anything _ .

He turned away, striding off down the hall. 

Carla s hivered,  a chill seeping into her bones. 

Like all the warmth  had  left with him.

…

She wasn’t quite sure  how she managed t o make it out of the house without running into her father, but Carla couldn’t really gather enough energy to care. She was  too wrung out, exhausted from the hyper-vigilance  she’d kept at school and at home. 

She shoved her hands deeper into her hoodie, shoulders hunched as she walk ed mindlessly down the side walk and Carl a tried to warm herself up but no matter what she did, she couldn’t shake the iciness  that had settled  deep into her marrow . 

She  _ hated _ feeling so numb. So withdrawn… and  when she found herself staring at his apartment building , she couldn’t really be surprised .  Carla ha d never really  felt  much of anything since Marina’s murder, but those nights with  Samuel ,  despite the mutual destructiveness of their entire relationship , were the most  she’d  felt  _ anything _ .

And she needed  that right now . 

After  standing outside for a good five minutes, she finally worked up the nerve to open the door and make her way upstairs . She swallowed as she stopped outside his door, letting out a long breath and straightening her shoulders before knocking on the door.

Almost a minute passed before the door opened, revealing  his mother.

The woman took a drag from her cigarette,  brows furrowed , “He’s not here.”

Carla shifted her weight, “ Okay, I ’ll come back another -”

“No , come in…” she stepped aside, waving a hand,  “It’s late  enough  as it is.”

She looked at the woman, shocked speechless as she hesitantly stepped inside and shut the door behind her. Carla glanced around the apartment, shoving her hands back into her hoodies as the memories of her nights here came flooding back .

Her eyes burned with tears and she was sure her hurriedly wiping them away hadn’t been missed  by Samuel’s mother because her expression soften ed before she put out her cigarette. Carla held the other woman’s gaze,  waiting  for  some stinging words blaming  her  for  everything that had happened to her child but she only turned  and went  back into the kitchen. 

Carla sank down into the couch, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She stared blankly at the television, feeling the ghost  of  his naked body wrapped around hers, the steady beat of his heart against her back…

She sucked in a shaky breath, another shiver wracking her.

_ What the hell was she even doing here? _

Samuel wasn’t there and she had no idea when he’d come back or if he’d even want to talk to her when he did. He’d shown no inclination since their short conversation in the police station that he’d even wanted to and the way he’d looked her in the hallway earlier…

_ “Let go of her!”  _

_ Carla watched as Nano turned around to face his brother, only to be hit brutally in the face over and over and over. Something in her chilled at the sight of such unbridled anger from Samuel, the look in his eyes, “Samuel please stop!” _

_ He didn’t listen, rounding back his arm again. _

_ She grabbed at h _ _ im _ _ , trying to pull him back, “Samuel, you’re going to kill him!” _

She’d seen that anger before and  really  hoped he wouldn’t be stupid enough to go after  Polo right now. The only thing it would accomplish  would be putting a target on his back and Carla didn’t think she’d be able to endure his loss again…

Carla made a move to stand when the front door opened.

Both her and Samuel froze when they made eye contact and Carla was the first to break it when his mother walked  pass him out the front door and shut it behind her , looking at the coffee table as she tightened her arms around herself, almost choking out a laugh.

_ Again…fucking pathetic. _

“What are you doing here?”

She bristled at his tone, bu t she didn’t respond. Didn’t move. Didn’t do anything other than look up at him with watery eyes and a trembling chin. She wasn’t really sure want to think of the flicker of pain she saw in his face as he clenched his jaw , adjusting herself until  her legs were curled underneath her.

Samuel ’s voice softened , “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to…”  Carla  shook her head,  “I mean, I wanted to say that…”

H e sat down next to her,  his body a warm line  against hers. 

“What I said at the police station…” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear,  twisting the ring around her finger, anything to keep him from seeing how much her hands were shaking . Her blurry vision and trembling  voice pretty much made that impossible.  “I was wrong when I told you that you never had me … I  was wrong about so much between us.”

He reached out,  curl ing his hand gently over her knee,  “Carla…”

Heat prickled just underneath her skin from the point of contact, but the words kept pouring out of her like a dam inside of her had broken and she couldn’t  fucking _ stop _ . “I don’t know why I said those things. Hell, I don’t even know why I’m here. I understand if you didn’t want to talk to me again but I didn’t have anywhere else left to go and…”

“Carla…”

“ My father told the detective I was lying and Polo is so angry with me …”

Samuel  leaned forward to place a hand on her leg . “Look at me.”

She stopped talking, those dark eyes pulling her  in, drawing her under like they always had and Carla couldn’t help her surprise when his thumb brushed away  her tears. The gesture was too gentle . 

She didn’t deserve it. 

Not after everything she’d done. 

“I’m not mad at you .” He said simply,  “Not anymore.”

She nodded and closed her eyes, pressing her cheek into his palm and letting out a long, shaky breath. One heartbeat passed, then two and he rested his forehead against hers. Carla didn't want to break the silence for fear of saying something wrong, but she couldn’t stop the choked laugh that slipped out, “You would be the only one then.”

“They don’t know  _ you _ .” 

She opened her eyes, “And you do?”

One side of his mouth lifted, “I think it’s been established that I don’t.”

Carla gave him a sad smile, “And still you defend me?”

He held her gaze intently ,  thumb moving back and forth over her cheek  as his ey es  traced her features , weighing his words carefully before he finally spoke . His tone was almost teasing, “ I’ ve been told I’m stubborn .”

“And naïve. ”

“I’m not blind to the things you’ve done. ”

Her eyes stung at his genuine tone, wondering how she’d ever earned even that much from him, and  found herself leaning forward, capturing his mouth in a kiss that conveyed everything she could never voice and it wasn’t until she tasted salt that realized she was crying.

Samuel threaded his fingers through her ha ir , pulling away just enough to whisper against her mouth, murmuring soft consoling words as she began to hiccup and sob, and Carla didn’t fight him when he pulled her into his arms. 

She felt safe in his arms, safe in a way she’d never felt in her own home or with Polo. Any sense of security she’d had before had been shattered at the sight of red dripping from the trophy and the blood sprayed across  Polo’s face and his button-up...

Carla climbed into his lap, fingers curling into his shirt. “I’m sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...”

His hand moved in slow, gentle circles on her back as he kissed the top of her head.

Carla closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck, taking comfort in his warm and the steady beat of his heart, both grounding her to the one person who’d accepted her completely, who knew the horrible things she’d done in the name of her family...

“I love you, Samuel.”

His hands faltered only  briefly , “I love you, too, Carla.”


End file.
